Within a Heartbeat
by Carrot The LuvMachine
Summary: Odd's life has begun to change due to XANA's escape onto Earth. Preparing for the worst, the 5 friends band together to do whatever they can to save their home. But will budding feelings of romance pull them all apart? OddxAelita, YumixUlrich


_-hops into the scene-_ _Konnichiwa! Welcome to my first ever Code Lyoko fanfic! Now, I must admit, I've fallen very hard for this show, even though it isn't hardcore anime. I have to say, I've just watched the exciting finale of season 2, and I HAVE to see more! Sadly, season 3 won't be released until september of next year! So, being the genius that I am, I've decided to write my own version of the season, which starts where the last season left off!_

_One last note before it starts! This fic is dedicated to my lil bro, **Aru-kun**, who is loved deeply by me and his kitties!_

_Enjoy!_

**_Chapter One  
_**

Odd dela Robbia lay on his back one sunny afternoon, staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom. The birds outside were chirping loudly, and his dog, Kiwi wouldn't stop growling at his squeeky bone. However, it seemed nothing would distract him from his thoughts.

Yesterday was a day that Odd would never forget, for it was the day that XANA finally devirtualized himself into the real world. Aelita had died, if only for a few minutes, but those few minutes seemed to last a life time to Odd. When Aelita tumbled out of the scanner and into Jeremie's arms, Odd realized how serious their situation had become. He had almost lost her, she had almost died, all that they had worked for could have been terminated. And now, to make matters worse, a mentally unstable and very angry computer being had been released onto Earth. Jeremie was already working on a program to track XANA down, and Yumi and Ulrich were hard at work training themselves for the fights to come. Aelita was frequently found locked up in her room, sobbing or simply reliving memories of her past. She never wanted to be bothered, but she would come out to eat and help Jeremie with his computer program. This left Odd by himself. Sure, he had Kiwi, but how much company could a dog possibly offer?

"RRRRrrrrrRRR, ARF!"

Odd rolled over and crawled to the edge of the bed to stare down at his barking pooch. "What is it, Kiwi?"

The small, bald dog whimpered and brushed up against Odd's hand, which was hanging off the bed. Odd began to scratch behind Kiwi's left ear, making his foot thump rapidly against the floor. "You're worried, aren'tcha, boy?"

'He isn't the only one...' a little voice said. Odd let out a sigh, and toppled off of his bed. He landed on his stomach on the floor, and stayed that way, despite how weird he looked.

At that moment, the door opened. "Odd, what're you doing on the floor?"

Odd crained his neck to find an upside down Ulrich standing in the doorway. "I'm looking at things in a new way?"

A giggle came from behind the brown haired boy, and Odd saw Yumi enter the room. "You really do live up to your name, Odd."

"If I didn't, who would?" Odd questioned, pulling himself upright. Kiwi hopped in his lap and began licking at his face. "Are you two finished training for today, or should I lead the way to the obsticle course?"

"You're a real comedian, Odd." Ulrich replied, taking a seat on his bed. "We're done for now...What more can we do? We don't know what XANA's planning."

"Has Jeremie come back from the factory yet?" Yumi asked, turning to Odd.

Odd shook his head. "He hasn't called, and neither has Aelita. They must be hard at work."

Ulrich laughed, causing Odd and Yumi to look his way. "Flirting is more like it."

Odd blinked as a sudden sensation shocked his entire body. He shook it off and laughed along with Yumi, but secretly, he had been wondering why he'd been so snappy towards Jeremie lately. Ever since Aelita had run to Jeremie for comfort, Odd had felt left out and hurt. Jeremie and Aelita spent every waking moment together, and neither could stop talking about the other. Odd was never hurt by this before, but suddenly, a weird feeling had started to grow within him.

"Well, whatever they're doing, we should help them with it," Yumi started, walking toward the door. "And it's most likely work on tracking down XANA."

Odd stood up as Ulrich followed Yumi out the door. He pat Kiwi on the head before leaving the room, shutting the door closed behind him. "WAIT UP!"

X X X

The three made their way down the sewer in the park and along the passage until they reached the ladder on the other end. Climbing up, they removed the sewer lid and the factory came into view. They followed their familiar route of swinging down the ropes and taking the elevator to the bottom floor where the super computer was. "You know, this elevator should really have music playing when we step inside," Odd suggested. "It's really dull in here."

"Yeah, elevator music is something I wanna hear before I attempt to save the world, that's a great idea, Odd." Ulrich grunted as the elevator came to a stop.

Slowly, the metal doors of the elevator opened, and the three walked into the circular room which housed their beloved computer. They walked around the gigantic 3-D map of Lyoko until they came to Aelita, who stood beside the chair in which Jeremie sat, typing away.

"Hey Einstein, how's the program coming?"

"Not so good, Odd," Jeremie replied. "Since I don't actually have any DNA of XANA's, tracking him is nearly impossible."

"What about sector 5?" Ulrich brought up.

"What about it?" Jeremie asked, turning to face him.

"Well, we found all that other information in sector 5. Maybe it would hold the code to XANA's structure or something."

Jeremie put on a thoughtful face. "I'm not sure...We don't know what we'll find on Lyoko. It could be crawling with XANA's monsters, for all we know."

"But we'll be ready to fight it. If there's a chance we can get the code to track down XANA, then going to Lyoko is mandatory." Yumi protested.

"Even if there is a code--" Jeremie's words seemed to fade out as Odd turned and looked at Aelita. She sat up against the wall, her arms hugging her knees. Her head was burried inbetween her legs and her chest, so that only her pink hair was visible. Odd's mouth opened and then closed. He wished he could say something, anything to cheer her up. But nothing came to mind. He swallowed hard before turning back to the others. "Warm up the scanners, Jeremie. We're going to Lyoko."

Aelita lifted her head at the mention of her home land. She stared at Odd with large eyes.

Jeremie sighed before pulling up the scanning program. "Whatever you say. Scanners are ready."

Odd smiled at Aelita before offering her his hand. "Need a lift, princess?"

Aelita smiled and nodded, grasping Odd's hand in her own. He pulled her to her feet, and she followed him into the scanner room.


End file.
